1 Killed as Truck Spills Load of Rocks at Overpass
A speeding truck lost its load on an overpass Monday, sending a cascade of 40-pound granite rocks onto Interstate 101 below and fatally crushing a motorist, authorities said.
Two men in the truck fled the scene but were followed by witnesses and taken into custody by San Rafael police, California Highway Patrol spokesman Terry Sims said.
The accident took place about 12:30 p.m. as a tractor-trailer climbed the Interstate 580 Richmond-San Rafael bridge ramp that crosses over the highway, Sims said.
The truck was carrying 30 tons of rocks from a quarry in San Rafael to Richmond.
“The truck was going too fast,” Sims said. “He sideswiped a guardrail for about 100 feet, and the load shifted, spilling the rocks onto the roadway below,” Sims said.
The rocks crushed a Mazda sports car, killing the driver, identified as 39-year-old Jill Ann McLeod-Garman of Novato.
Bobby Blackman, a 32-year-old Sacramento-area man, was arrested for investigation of felony manslaughter and hit-and-run and booked into the Marin County jail, CHP Officer Pedro Leon said.
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